"I hoped you would be pleased. These Clones can think creatively as well as independently. You'll find that they are immensely superior to the GAR, and that these are the elite in all the galaxy. Our methods have changed with this army from the GAR. More aggressive, quicker, faster, more agile, can easily improvise and fight as units, and there is also their superior weaponry."

"How many are here in this room?" Padme asked, voice soft.

"We have several hatcheries throughout the city. This, of course, is the most crucial phase of it all, though with our current techniques, we expect a survival rate of over ninety three percent. However, if we were to implement Naboo's plasma and other resources, we could expect a survival rate of over ninety nine percent. As you know...Every so often, an entire batch will develop an issue, and plasma could be a good way to negate this as we are expecting our current clone production to remain steady, and with our accelerated growth methods, these before you will be fully matured and ready for battle in just over a decade."

One million units are ready, with another two million on the way.

The boast echoed deep in Padme's and Typho's minds, and it was no idle boast.

A planet that had become a production center during the Clone Wars, supremely efficient, producing a steady stream of superbly trained and conditioned warriors, allying with Naboo, and Naboo allying with them. All of it in the effort to keep their sovereignty and freedom.

The implications were staggering.

Padme felt the bright pricks of the embryos, all floating contentedly in their fluid. In ten short years, that tiny life, that prick in the force, would possibly be a soldier, killing and, likely, soon enough killed.

Of course, she could always do something to prevent the same mistakes as what happened with the GAR.

She took a deep breath and looked to her Kamino guide.

"Come." Lama Su bade them, walking along the corridor.

Next on the tour were huge classrooms, with desks in neat, orderly rows and with students in neat, orderly rows. They all looked to be between eight and ten years of age. All dressed the same, all with the same haircut, all with exactly the same features and posture and expressions.

Right next to it was a huge sparring chamber, with blades and other weapons in neat rows on the wall and with masters and students going through kata seamlessly. These groups were not all dressed the same, as the higher ranking wore black, and the lower ranking wore red.

The students went about their studies or training without paying any more heed to the visitors than a quick glance.

They are quite austere. Padme thought.

"You mentioned growth acceleration, don't you find that to be a little counter productive?" Typho asked.

"Quite the opposite. It's essential in fact, otherwise a mature clone would take a lifetime to grow as you are both aware because of regulations...Palpatine's deals with technology that will be able to mature a clone in one year to as little as fifth teen days. The units you will soon see on the parade ground we started thirty years ago roughly, quite some time before Master Sifo-Dyas first placed the order, and they've been mature and ready for duty since before the Clone Wars."

"And these were started before five years ago according to what you just said? Someone warned you ahead of time about all of this?" Padme asked, trying to grasp the scenario.

Lama Su nodded. "Indeed. Would you care to inspect the troopers?"

Typho and Padme could hear excitement in his voice. Clearly he was proud of this accomplishment, and more so, wanted to work out an alliance of sorts.

"I would like to hear your opinion."

The callousness of it all stung Padme.

These were living people. Living, breathing, and thinking. To create clones for such a singular purpose, under such control, even stealing half their childhood for efficiency, was just wrong, and the fact that they lived in such times that measures like this were taken stung her as well.

Patience. Padme had to remind herself of her first lesson, before she began to dwell on only the negative.

The tour took them through the commissary next, where hundreds of adult clones-all young men between eighteen and twenty one sat in neat rows, all dressed in blue, all eating the same food in almost the same manner.

"You'll find that they are very austere. We modified their genetic structure to make them a little more independent than the original, but they can think more creatively, independently, and are stronger physically speaking than their GAR counterparts."

"And the original was that bounty hunter?"

"Yes, the bounty hunter named Jango Fett." Lama Su nodded without any hesitation.

"But, you weren't too keen on using Jango Fett, despite his ferocity?"

"We felt that a Jedi, in particular Jedi Master Cadus, Qui Gon, Sifo Dyas himself, Jedi Master Taizo, Komari Vosa, Kit Fisto, or the late Master Tahl would have all been the perfect choices respectively, as well as a unit, but someone by the name of Tyranus handpicked Jango for the template. Some of those Jedi died before the army was commissioned, but they were all worthy enough to be the original host of the GAR."

The notion that any of those Jedi might have been used, let alone Cadus or Qui Gon almost made Padme rock back in surprise and borderline horror.

That wouldn't just be an army of clones strong in the force...With those Jedi mentioned, that would have been an army of strong willed clones created from originals, with the same willpower, if not more willpower than their counterparts used for material.

It would be the worst case scenario.

Tweaking certain things so they are more keen on the dark side, or the light side, or...

"Where is Jango Fett now?" Padme asked, keeping the worry that was like bile in the back of her throat.

"He hasn't been here since Obi Wan fought him." Lama Su replied.

"Meaning?" Typho asked.

"He's not free to come and go as he pleases like he once was."

He kept walking as he spoke, leading the duo along a long corridor filled with narrow transparent tubes, and for their part, Typho and Padme watched as clones climbed up into the tubes and settled in place, closing their eyes and going to sleep.

"These men are all very austere. It is truly remarkable." Typho said, amazed.

He hadn't seen this among any military in the galaxy during his lifetime.

"That is the key. Austere, yet with the ability to think creatively and independently. The ability to improvise and fight as a unit. It is a mighty combination. Sifo-Dyas explained to us the Jedi aversion to leading droids. He told us Jedi could only command an army of life-forms."

"And, you wanted a Jedi as host?" Padme asked.

"Multiple, if it was possible."

Padme took a deep breath, wondering how Master Sifo Dyas could have unilaterally commissioned the Kaminoians to create any army of clones. Didn't Yoda and Windu constantly badger and loom over everyone in the Temple, or had it been different back then?

Were there far more who didn't agree with Yoda?

"Jango Fett and his son are still alive according to Republic and CIS sources. Jango fought Windu to a stalemate on Geonosis, but I haven't heard word of him since a run in with Pong Krell near Felucia and there was that skirmish on Mandalore concerning him, Boba, and Satine during the Clone Wars."

"Yes, he is still alive, but he is not here. Jango demanded only one thing and that was an unaltered clone for himself. Curious, isn't it?"

"Unaltered?"

"Pure genetic replication, which is what we planned to do with the Jedi host. No tampering with the structure to make it more docile or obedient, and no growth acceleration."

Padme was intrigued. "Theoretically speaking, would you be able to do that with me?"

"With enough samples from you, yes."

Lama Su spoke as he took them along the areas that showed them the entire brutal, nearly inhumane routine of the clones at every level of their development. Below them, thousands and thousands of clones dressed in blue suits, sparred and drilled with all the precision and ferocity of the Vaapad itself.

Others were flying through courses with actual fire with the basic Phase I armor, while others drilled and marched with more precision than any droid could ever muster. Even more shot up high above, their jetpacks leaving clouds of fire and smoke as they went through aerial formations.

Entire formations, each made up of hundreds of soldiers, moved as one within their strikes, parries, blocks, and counter-strikes.

"Magnificent, aren't they?" Lama Su asked.

Padme looked up at the Kaminoian, not entirely surprised to see his eyes glowing with pride as he looked out upon the shouting men in combat, and even Typho was looking on with amazement at the assembly all going through the same kata.

There were no ethical dilemmas as far as the Kaminoians were concerned, even if the Republic made them change their ways, but that was why the Kaminoians were so good at cloning in the first place. They knew what they wanted to do and accepted the consequences of what they had to do to get it.

Padme understood this well.

"Yes, they are ferocious, austere, and well organized. I can only imagine the brutal efficiency this group would exhibit in a battle against an enemy, or inside of an actual war zone. Even armor and blasters wouldn't save them from these men, even three thousand couldn't do anything against one of these men." Typho said, tone blunt.

"Yes, well spoken." Lama Su said, eyes glowing with pride. "I see you have an eye for our work."

Padme kept the chill from going down her spine.


A wave of Taun We's hand brought forth the chime of an unseen bell, reminding Padme of how foreign the world of Kamino, this city of Tipoca, really was for her despite being here more than a few times in the past for diplomatic reasons. She didn't give it too much thought before, though, for she was focused on the political mechanism that choked the galaxy before her, an elaborate conflagration and haze of incongruity.

Of course there was quite a bit of security in the form of Troopers, but it seemed to Padme, despite the normally genteel nature of the Kaminoans, and the obvious control the Cloners held over their cities, there was still a caution that was bordering paranoia.

Was the locking mechanism designed to keep people out, or to keep whoever was brazen enough to come into the storm world within it. It could be a combination of both. Kamino had seen its fair share of invasions and battles during the Clone Wars, after all.

Perhaps they had made more than a few dangerous enemies through affiliation alone.

Padme was still studying the device when the door suddenly opened, revealing another Kaminoian, nearly an exact replica of Taun We, if not for the shorter height.

This one was actually younger as well.

"Did you get their ship ready and dispose of the one they came in?" Taun We asked the newcomer

"Yes." The newcomer stood, staring at the human visitor for a long moment. "The ship we chose is hyperspace capable as well.

"Good, very good." Taun We turned to Padme. "Was your trip productive?"

Padme studied Taun We intensely. She was a professional, a diplomat, had severe austere, and so her expression didn't reveal the slightest emotion nor flitting impulse. "Very much so."

Typho continued to size up Taun We as he spoke, his eyes narrowing in observation. "This progress and development is all quite staggering. What I saw was immensely impressive. Those men are all extremely skilled."

"We are very proud."

"Where will you put this new army though, when and if someone from the Republic or CIS comes here?" Padme asked, rather bluntly.

"We've built a sub section of a city beneath the oceans of this world."

"Recently?"

Taun We's gaze became searching. "Since the third battle here, we had to make implements in order to ensure the safety of our fellows who are not part of cloning projects..."

"And, who is it that warned you in advance of Palpatine?" Padme asked, if only to gauge a reaction if there was one to be gained.

There was none, nor did Taun We move an inch, and when Padme subtly reached into the force, she was greeted, by a calm and warm presence.

"I believe Lama Su can recall better than I...Did he not bring it up?"

Not until were they in another corridor, and the door to the previous room shut, did Taun We clear her throat, and then it seemed to Padme as if she was trying to gauge her for a reaction once more before she would even make a sound.

"He only said something in passing." Typho clarified.

"Sifo-Dyas is the one who commissioned the army for the GAR, but who hired Jango for this job as the original host?" Padme pressed.

"Hmmm..." Taun We hummed, and if there was any deceit in her, Padme could not detect it. "It was a strange name."

"How strange?" Typho asked, brow arched.

"Jango was recruited by a man called Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogden. But, the person who warned us about Palpatine wasn't Tyranus. That was a Bith who went by the name of Rugess Nome, a famous and renown star-ship builder. We alerted a Muun by the name of Hego Damask who was a partner of one Darth Sidious, that Rugess Nome warned us that Palpatine, Sidious, or Damask himself would take our cloning technology and conquer our world in decades." Taun We explained.

It seemed that Taun We was speaking truthfully, the Kaminoian had no reason to lie to Padme.

"Curious..."

Padme glanced down, surprised and at a loss as to what all of this might mean, and feeling a new sense of urgency to relay this bit of information to Cadus.

It seemed that Damask's Master spoiled something for Damask and Sidious...Had Damask kept this Bith Rugess alive despite knowing the dangers and implications of doing so?

"Do you like the army?" Taun We asked.

"I look forward to seeing them in action." Typho replied.

Taun We stared at him, searching the intent behind his words, and then she smiled. "They're far superior to anything in the GAR. I'll guarantee that."

"The last of their kind." Padme realized.

Taun We continued to smile. "They are elite. Closer to Jango save for Boba, even the Nulls and ARCs lack the DNA of Jango that this entire army does."

"Thank Prime Minister Lama Su for his time and effort as well as the cloners, we appreciate it." Typho said.

Taun We started for the door. "Always a pleasure to meet with someone from Naboo."

Before she pushed things any further, Padme realized that she should relay all that she had learned thus far back on Naboo to her handmaidens, Queen Jamillia, the others, and lastly her husband.

The truth that there was this freedom fighting clone army was nothing short of amazing, and more than a little frightening, and none of it made much sense. How was it that Palpatine's Master's, Master, was alive to ruin things for those two?

More importantly, how did he have the insight to give such a warning in the first place, and the warning being enough to ruin things decades later?

With Taun We beside her, she left the apartment, and the door slid closed behind them. Padme paused and focused her senses, reaching out with the force and letting her will guide her.

The door lock quietly secured.

"Not a bad ship." Typho remarked, looking over the sleek cruiser. "We should be able to make it to Naboo with two jumps."

Padme gave her guard an absent nod.

"M'lady?" Typho asked, taken by her silence.

Padme fixed him with an intense, piercing stare that the man had learned through experience not to ignore.

"I do admit it is alarming, but you can't blame the Kaminoians for trying to secure their own freedom and future. We're trying to do the very same thing."

"I know, that is why I am happy we're leaving." Padme replied, not sure if she was capable of speaking.

"Just leave the rest to me. Let's get back home." Typho said.

Padme practically glided, moving silently up the ship's ramp and into it's main cabin, checking the sleeping quarters.

She shook her head, massaging the space between her eyes.

She didn't need this kind of tension.

Not at this time.

Not for the first time, had she questioned her decision to support and speak up for the elevation of Palpatine.

She had been more surprised when the Delegation of the 2000 had approached her with the most recent offer. They had been adamant, explaining only that she could distract Palpatine and rally enough systems so they could continue securing allies in the future, and recruiting all of necessary allies now.

They had come to her apartment and made an offer too lucrative in certain regards for her to refuse, one that would set her and Naboo forever on a course of danger, so she refused.

She never thought she would find herself in the cross hairs of everyone, and every faction in the galaxy at this moment, and she was thankful for Cadus's intense, exhausting, blacking out early training sessions when he had still been recovering on Naboo.


Obi-Wan had to disguise a groan as a sigh.

The Jedi Master led the way into the gambling club. Humans and non-humans mingled and clamored about in the smoky air right outside and around their wreckage. The ship Anakin had used and their own continued to smolder and flare up with flames.

Deeper in the bar, the patrons were sipping drinks of every color and puffing on exotic pipes full of exotic plants, with many robes showing bulges of weapons.

Looking around, Obi Wan, Kit Fisto, and Adi Gallia understood that everyone around them was a potential threat.

"Why do I think eyes are piercing me?" Kit Fisto commented above the clamor.

"Don't drop your guard." Adi Gallia replied seriously, and the intensity of her tone surprised Obi-Wan.

"Their ship is outside, just like we are hearing."

"Then why are people continuing on as if two Jedi weren't here?"

"Simple, they must be unconscious." Obi-Wan replied and glanced all around.

"Do you see them?"

"I think they could be over there." Kit Fisto pointed at a growing crowd off to the side, and ahead of them.

"Just be careful, someone is watching us." Adi Gallia added.

Obi-Wan nodded to the crowd ahead of them. "Let's go. Whoever is watching us is using Anakin and Barriss as a quarry to lure us into a trap. Kito Fisto, you and I will draw them to us, Adi Gallia, when they move on us, you move on Anakin and Barriss."

He started the opposite way, with Kit Fisto flanking him.

"The bar, Master Kenobi?"

"Blending in." Was the short response.

Adi Gallia only shook her head, watching the two Masters heading for the bar. She almost wanted to start after them, to join them, but she recalled the scolding she had received growing up and her promise to abstain from the dark and exotic, to keep a clear mind and clean body.

She turned and moved towards Anakin and Barriss, milling through the crowd, holding her calm against the wave of faces staring at her, most with obvious suspicion and distrust, a few were hateful, and some even openly hostile.

Obi-Wan watched her out of the corner of his eye while Kit Fisto signaled to the bartender, then watched as a glass was placed in front of them and magenta liquid was poured in from a strainer.

"Wanna buy three DL-18 Blaster Pistols? Only fourteen hundred credits, I'll cut you a deal." Came a slick voice from the side.

Obi Wan didn't even turn to it, but Kit Fisto regarded the speaker, who wore a wild mane of dark hair, with one horn poking through.

"That's not a deal." Kit Fisto remarked.

"Nobody's got better deals on blasters than I do. I even have DC-17 Hand Blasters, the old ones that the GAR used before they upgraded." The ruffian added with a cunning smile.

"You don't want to be in the undergrowth of Coruscant, you want a better life." Kit Fisto said with a cool smile, bringing the weight of the force into his presence and voice.

"I have to eat." The being said.

Again, Kit Fisto nodded, keeping his cool smile. "You want to go home and prepare for your future. You want to use your skills for something worthwhile and live an honest life."

"I want to go home and contact BlasTech Industries." The being readily agreed, and he turned and walked away with great speed.

Obi-Wan tossed back his drink and motioned for the bartender to fill it up while Kit Fisto took a short sip of his own, tasting it on his palate.

A short distance away, Gallia continued walking among the crowd, inching closer and closer to where Anakin and Barriss were.

Something wasn't quite right, but of course, how could anything be right in this seedy place?

Still, some sensation nagged at them, some mounting murderous intent that seemed above the level expected even in here. Neither Jedi actually seen the blaster pistols coming out of the holsters, they didn't see them rising up toward their back's and face's, but they could feel the intent.

Kit Fisto could feel it amplify...

There was more than one!

He spun hard, just as Obi-Wan spun on a sharp pivot, to see Gallia coming around herself, their light-sabers igniting in beautiful, graceful arcs with perfect balance and synchronicity. It seemed almost though for most the three Jedi were moving with dizzying speed and laser precision, as theirs blades, blue and green, cut short vertical loops and then a second later, reached farther out toward their foes in ribbons.

The would be attackers were all male, and they could see they were human or near human, since they had taken off their helmets, howling in agony as their hands, still clutching the blasters, fell free to the floor, sheared off above the wrist.

The room exploded into motion, with Gallia rushing to Obi Wan's side, moving him and Kit Fisto along with their prisoners while club patrons began leaping up, shouting, and running all about them, bristling with nervous energy as the three Jedi and their prisoners moved through the whole club.

A few went for their holsters.

"Easy!" Gallia said loudly, imbuing her voice with the strength of the force.

"Official business. Calm down and go back to your drinks. All of you act like we're not even here unless you want to be a suspect. Take your hands away from your holsters." Kit Fisto said.

"He said take your hands away from your holsters." Obi Wan added, tone stern.

Gradually, very gradually, the club resumed its previous atmosphere, with conversations and drinking beginning again. Hardly concerned, Obi Wan motioned for Gallia to help him, and together they helped the attackers, as well as Anakin and Barriss out to the street.

They lowered them gently to the ground, and Gallia began to attend to the wounds of Barriss and Anakin.

Meanwhile one man growled and winced in agony, all the while staring up hatefully at the two Jedi Masters.

"Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?" Obi Wan asked.

"Jedi Masters who have to gallop along and save the day." The man said tight lipped, clearly angry.

"Who hired you guys to kill us?" Kit Fisto asked.

Their answers were all a glare.

"It's only a job."

"You are afraid." Kit Fisto said, squatting down calmly.

The tough bounty hunters didn't even flinch.

"The Jedi are all going to die soon. It won't end with me. For everything that they've done, there'll be bounty hunters and common people lining up to take them out of the picture. If they're smart, the next ones won't make the same mistakes we did."

Kit Fisto looked from the bounty hunter to his female comrade.

"Anakin's and Barriss's wounds are both going to need more treatment than I can give here. They need to be put into a bacta tank, and these men will need more treatment." An obviously concerned Gallia explained to Kit Fisto and Obi Wan, but if the Nautolan even cared, she didn't show it.

Kit Fisto's expression was calm, he remained squatted. "Who hired you? Tell us."

The leader of the bounty hunters continued to glare at them, but, all of their lips began twitching, the first signs that they were going to answer.

"We don't know his name...We just know anything you guys do isn't nearly as bad as what he will do. He'll eat us alive two at a time or squeeze us until our eyes pop out from our skulls." One of the men said.

"We didn't meet him in person, but then again we didn't need to...There was a Tactical Droid acting as an intermediary."

Obi Wan and Kit Fisto exchanged looks.

"Where did you meet this person. I mean, this Tactical Droid that was acting as an intermediary?" Gallia asked, before quickly fixing her mistakes, moving the conversation forward, tone and expression soft.

"We were in the Rimma Trade Route between the Mayagil Sector, Vivenda Sector, and Seswenna Sector just doing a regular job. The Tactical Droid had a four garrisons of four different models of Droideka and brigades of Super Battle Droids. We were overmatched. If we had thoughts of fighting, those were evaporated after that droid showed us the video."

"Who and what was in the video?" Kit Fisto asked, tone urgent.

"It was a monster...A giant, reaching into the very sky itself with a crown of horns, and it consumed those furry little creatures hundreds at a time and smashed them to gory bits-"

They heard a puff from above and the bounty hunters all twitched and convulsed, simply shattering like glass, their human features freezing and breaking into the lumpy, smoking forms of ice.

Kit Fisto and Obi Wan tore their eyes away from the brutal spectacle to look up, and heard the roar as they watched an armored ship rocket into the Coruscant night, disappearing as it shot into hyperspace not even a second after they glanced at it.

He put the coordinates in ahead of time... Obi Wan noted.

They looked back to the dead men slowly moving, a piece of smoking, freezing flesh breaking apart as freezing steam began to billow.

"Same substance as the explosions that took out Padme's apartment and the surrounding buildings. This isn't normal ice by any stretch." Kit Fisto noted, tone severe.

Gallia sighed and looked away.

So they hadn't foiled anything, they were just caught in the web, and worse they now had two injured Jedi Knights on their hands and the growing unrest of the gambling community.


When the call beamed into the Jedi Temple to get "the old folks home ready," Oppo Rancisis and Yoda knew that it was important. Extremely important. They notified the Halls of Healing to begin preparations, only after Rancisis checked the corridor both ways, then swiftly moved to meet the returning party.

Obi Wan appeared before them first.

The man was obviously on edge, glancing repeatedly over his shoulder at Gallia and Kit Fisto, every so often turning his focus onto Anakin and Barriss. "Masters, we have successfully retrieved Anakin and Barriss from the gambling club, but we've run into a problem as well."

"Ah, good it is that you've found a common source. Right where it leads, we cannot know."

Kit Fisto frowned for a brief moment, looking to Rancisis and Yoda. "These bounty hunters or smugglers that tried to kill us were nowhere near the best in the galaxy. But, they were all terrified. From what I've seen and heard, I don't doubt their claims of seeing a monster that towers high into the sky with a crown of horns."

The gathered Jedi Masters frowned.

"They seen something. Something that made them attack us instead of resisting whoever, or whatever it was that made them do it in the first place."

"Where were they in the first place?" Oppo asked.

"According to them they were in the middle of three sectors along the Rimma Trade Route. That's close to the Greater Javin and the barren Anoat Sector." Obi-Wan's answer startled some.

"What's more, I have a strong feeling that this monster, or perhaps someone working for this monster was also behind the destruction of Padme's apartment." Kit Fisto added, almost as an afterthought.

"Do you think the monster was somehow involved in the Clone Wars, as well?" Oppo asked.

"No. I do not believe I heard anything from any sources, either the Republic or the CIS about anything that towers into the sky and that eats sentient and non sentient beings alive. We would have been called in to deal with that personally, even Master Yoda himself would have been sent to take care of such a monster." Adi Gallia said, tone firm.

"Hurry we must, to the bacta tanks. Helping young Barriss and Anakin takes priority." Yoda advised, face rumpling with worry.

"The person who attacked Padme's apartment couldn't be the same person who attacked the bounty hunters and forced them to take us on. The two of them could be working together, though. The bounty hunters or smugglers made it clear that they wanted no part of it, and that a Tactical Droid was the intermediary."

"So their terror was caused by a droid?" Oppo asked, blinking wide in disbelief.

"No, it was what the droid showed them that made them comply. They say in the video the monster was attacking short, furry creatures, probably two feet at the most. It was pulling them apart and eating them alive by the hundreds while those creatures screamed until they were completely consumed." Gallia said, tone clipped with caution, bile rising at the back of her throat.

The thought of someone being devoured or eaten alive made her sick.

"Perhaps someone was transformed by the dark side..." Oppo ventured with some hesitation, looking to Yoda for confirmation.

"Whoever transformed, unaware of it I am."

"How? Why? We should be able to feel the plight of these creatures being terrorized. We should be able to feel hatred of the dark side if it is rampant in a monster such as the one those smugglers described. I can't see them lying about that, and they were taken out because they talked too much." Kit Fisto remarked.

"The mystery deepens, and it is one that needs to be solved quickly. Whatever they used is not normal ice, even the ice from Hoth melts eventually. This stuff generates a cold steam when it comes into contact with air and flesh." Gallia said.

"The implications of this are deadly, Master. There could be someone out there right now terrorizing an entire world with the sole and one purpose alone being genocide. This whole thing could be a diversion to get our attention elsewhere." Obi Wan said.

"Into this, we will research. Contact Jocasta Nu and Olee, I believe she missed the trip to the Outer Rim with Roan and Master Chatak. Into the archives and worlds we will look, and species that match the description we will find."

"Yes, Master. I will report back when I complete the task." Kit Fisto glanced over his shoulder and abruptly instructed a droid to meet him in the archives.

"A Sith...Maybe this is Sidious." Oppo remarked, alone with Yoda, Obi Wan, and Gallia, while Kit Fisto vanished down a long and vaulted hall.

"When did someone that powerful emerge and how could we not feel them?" Obi Wan asked.

"Whom, and placed where they were in the CIS may provide insight. Closer to some or one of us, this enemy could be." Yoda said.

Obi Wan nodded.

If the timing of the attack and transformation was correct, then whoever it was must have been in the Mid Rim at the very least before the peace talks went into play. He couldn't designate or even guess in what particular point in the Mid Rim, but he knew this monster had been there.

"If this monster was involved in the killing of those Jedi in the Outer Rim in the direction of Dagobah, than what just happened to those bounty hunters would be fairly recent, which would beg the question if the monster is someone completely different, and if Sidious is still the main one we want..." Oppo stopped and shook his head.

There was no such thing as a coincidence.

These attacks were too well coordinated and timed to be simple chance. But, how could one tie in with the other?

Was it possible that whoever decided to attack the Temple was the same one who attacked Padme's apartment, and was this person just trying to throw up a smoke screen, one that would be strong enough to prevent anyone from having basic rights on Coruscant?

The Jedi Master rubbed a hand over his forehead and looked to Yoda, who walked with his eyes closed.

Probably contemplating the same riddles, if not probing the force for the malevolent energy that had to be swirling around deep within its subtle currents.

Obi Wan knew the news put all of them on edge and made them equally troubled.

"We are truly blind if the transformation of this monster and massacres it inflicts we could not see or feel." Obi Wan remarked.

"I think it is time to inform the Senate that our ability to use the force has diminished." Gallia noted.

"Only the dark lords of the Sith know of our weakness, if informed the Senate is, multiply a million fold our adversaries will. Cannot risk it." Yoda said, tone severe.

For the Jedi Masters, this horrifying development was troubling on several different levels.


Anakin was floating, weightless, surrounded by darkness and silence. It seemed he was drifting beyond the black void of death itself. Consciousness began to return to his mind, but it had yet to reach his body. He thrashed a moment later in the dark blue fluid of the bacta tank, creating a stream of bubbles that rose silently to the surface and out around him.

His heart began to pound steadier, louder, and he could hear the blood rushing through his veins. His eyes popped open in time to see a med droid come over to adjust some of the settings on his tank. Within seconds his heart got quieter, and the involuntary thrashing of his bruised and broken limbs settled.

His body was calmed by the tranquilizer, but his mind was fully alert and aware. Memories of motion and pain flickered across his mind's eye. The sights, sounds, and smells of the congested streets. The smell of exotic smoke in the gambling hall. He remembered the last blaster shot, maintaining his course and speed with the bounty hunter, his blood on the control mechanism, Barriss's own blood mixing with his.

Everybody at the gambling club must have stepped to the side after they blacked out and kept anyone less than intelligent from killing them while they were unconscious. They must have been brought to the Halls of Healing in short.

At first Anakin was surprised that they would bother to go so far, and not just put him in one of the regular medical bays that were situated throughout the Jedi Temple's quarters.

Then he realized that he was also too valuable to the Jedi Order to simply allow him to heal slowly. So he would thrive and be able to continue his duties...But his life as a Jedi was essentially over. Since coming to the Temple he had worked toward one clear goal. All his studying, all his training had been for one single purpose, to understand and command the power of the force to bring balance and harmony.

The force would bring him power, clarity, strength, and freedom.

But, it hadn't for a long time.

He would always be the emotional pariah at the Temple.

He wouldn't listen in on the group lessons, he preferred to practice his skills in light-saber training sessions, but that would be all. Any hope he might have had of getting one on one training with any of the Masters besides Obi Wan had been crushed in his humiliating realization that he couldn't learn from all of them.

And without that specializing guidance, his potential would wither and die.

In theory all in the Jedi Order were equal, but Anakin was smart enough to see the real truth.

In practice the Jedi needed leaders, Masters like Yoda, Windu, Obi Wan, and even at the Temple.

The strong always stepped forward.

The weak had no choice but to follow.

Anakin would not be doomed to be one of the followers.

He would not be doomed to a life of subservience and obedience, as he understood all too well the chains of servitude that could bind anyone, with his upbringing, for their entire lifetime.